daeng1212

Went to Penang, Malaysia last week (on Dec.18), and got a tourist visa without any problems. (I’ve been extending my visa at Mae Sai every month for the past 5 years or so). Here are some things I learned:

-- Applications for visas are accepted at the Thai consulate in the morning (9am-12 noon), to be picked up on the afternoon of the following day (2-5 pm, I think). Cost – 100 RM (=1000 baht); two passport size photos are required.

-- The Thai consulate does not accept payment in baht. (My assumption that it would led to some lost time and an increased taxi fare). -- Taxis into town from the Penang airport are a lot cheaper if you walk out to the main road (about a half kilometer from the airport) and get a taxi there.

-- The Thai consulate in Penang is closed on Christmas Day. (I was told the opposite when I called the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

-- The money exchange rate at the airport isn’t bad. (I got 98.8 RM [ringit] for 1000 baht; the rate with money changers on the street is 100RM for 1000 baht.) Money changers close shop at around 7 pm. I couldn’t find any banks that gave ringit for baht.

-- It’s impossible to find a decent hotel for prices equal to those in Thailand. I finally settled for a fair room at the Oriental Hotel for 75 RM (=750 baht) per night. The air conditioning was pretty good (though the temperature could not be adjusted), and the hot water was also ok, though warm rather than hot.

-- The weather in Penang even in December is very hot and muggy.

-- There’s a good theater with a fair choice of English movies on the top floor of the mall (Prangin?), though it’s kind of hard to find the theater entrance.

Hope this helps someone.

- Daeng

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

I just called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok and asked about the consulate in Penang. They said it would be OPEN on Dec. 25 (Christmas day) and closed on Jan. 1 & 2. Surprise.

Also - what about Dec. 25? Will the Thai consulate in Penang be open on that day?

I'll probably be going to Penang to try to get a tourist visa at the end of this month (along with how many hundred other people?). Could someone kindly tell me if the Thai Penang Consulate in Penang will be open on Jan. 1 and 2? Also, is it closed on all weekends? I checked the website http://www.thaiembassy.org/ but there was no link for the Penang consulate. I noticed that the Thai embassy in Vientiane says it is/was closed on Jan. 2 and 3, and on weekends as well. I imagine that was Jan. 2 and 3 of this year (2006), which would've been the Monday and Tuesday following New Year's Day.

Thanks for any help anyone gives.

- Daeng

P.S. The title of this post should read "Penang Consulate open Jan.1 or 2?", but I don't see any way to edit the title.

[i've chenged the title for you. Maestro]

A big thank you to everyone who responded to my question. All responses very helpful.

- Daeng

I recently was in Bkk & saw that there is no charge for a 1 day overstay if leaving Thailand via Don Muang airport. Is the same true for a 1 day overstay when going into Burma via Maesai/Takilek? My 30 day tourist visa expires on a Friday, and it'd be most convenient to do my visa run on a Saturday, but I don't want to risk a 500 baht fine unless I'm sure there won't be a charge there for a 1 day overstay.

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

- Daeng

I just talked to a Thai friend who told me his pickup truck was in an accident with a motorcycle. The cause: the motorcyclist swerved into the path of the pickup to avoid being hit by a bucketful of water being thrown at him. No significant damage to the truck, but the motorcycle went down and the motorcyclist's leg was broken. I also saw a guy who was unloading cases of Coke get hit by a blast of water thrown from a passing pickup truck. He was definitely upset about it. Not all Thais like what Songgran has become. From what I've read, in the past it mostly involved people pouring (not throwing) reasonable amounts of water on other people (not motorists) as a kind of blessing. Nowadays it usually involves teens, kids, and young adults throwing large amounts of water forcefully at motorized vehicles. As a motorcyclist, I dislike this behavior. I agree that we farangs don't have a right to complain too much about practices in a country that is not our own, but I also think that helping educate our Thai friends about the dangers of throwing water at motorcyclists is a good thing to do.

Penzman, thanks for getting back to me. And thanks for all the other posts on this topic. The motorcycle I bought was imported from Japan in pieces and assembled in Thailand. No, it does not have any original registration papers in Thailand. I do have an purchase invoice from the shop where I bought the motorcycle (in Chiangrai) as well as copies of lots of invoices the shop owner has on the parts he bought before assembling the motorcycle.

- Daeng

Hey, Penzman, this is Daeng. I saw on another post that you mentioned getting a license plate for your motorcycle. Did you pay much to get the plate? I bought my motorcycle (a second-hand Honda Degree mountain trail bike) in Chiangrai and was told that getting a registration and a license plate would cost an extra 50,000 baht, so I got the bike without the registration. If I could get the bike legal for not more than 10,000 baht, I'd probably go for it.

Took a while to get the plate (few months) for the new motorcycle but was never stopped for it. I was pullled over many times but no talk of the missing plate.

"Where you from?, where you go?. Pai! ".

I always greet them with a smile, a "watdee khap" and then a truthful  "mai mao".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, Penzman, this is Daeng. How much did you pay to get your license plate?

I bought my motorcycle (a second-hand Honda Degree mountain trail bike) in Chiangrai and was told that getting a registration and a license plate would cost an extra 50,000 baht, so I got the bike without the registration. If I could get the bike legal for not more than 10,000 baht, I'd probably go for it.

This is Daeng again. A big thank you to everyone who has responded. And I don’t mind the criticisms at all. Posts from bkk_mike, taxexile, Chuchok, Kringle, Camelot, and HarryHacker were especially helpful. I still think the tax is exorbitant, but it’s helps somewhat to know that the Customs Bureau is at least acting within the parameters of their regulations

To answer questions:

to LaoPo: yes, the actual value of the taxed clothing is higher, but not by a lot – about 6900 baht.

to Wimpy: I haven’t talked to the lawyer yet. I’m assuming he’ll give a little free initial advice (from what you’ve all said, that will probably be: “There’s nothing you can do to get the tax reduced.”). I’ll be careful to not let myself get charged a lot for service that doesn’t bear results.

to taxexile: The protective item is a Fieldsheer mesh jacket with armor. From what I’ve read on the internet, it’s not hot at all, once you get moving on the motorcycle.

To bkk_mike: yeah, it’s a little complicated. My parents gave me a monetary gift for Christmas and put it into my U.S. bank account. I then ordered the items over the internet. About 60% of the cost was covered by the monetary gift; the rest came from my own personal funds. Since the companies I ordered from don’t ship overseas, I had them send the items to my parents, who then repackaged them and sent them to me.

I've run into a problem with the Thai Customs Bureau (กรมศุลกากร). My parents sent me some protective motorcycle clothing which I ordered over the internet from a company in the U.S. The two boxes arrived at the post office, but Thai Customs is demanding I pay approximately 2100 baht in import taxes. They listed the value of the items to be 5400 baht, so that's a tax of almost 40%! I haven't paid the tax yet - I've made an appointment to see a lawyer about this on Monday. Some of the Thai folks I've talked to here say that import taxes should only be levied on items that are to be sold commercially, which is not the case here. The items are marked as gifts (which is correct, since most of the money for the items was a gift from my parents). Has anyone else had a problem like this? Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid this exorbitant tax? As far as I can tell, the main Customs office is in Bangkok, and I live in northern Thailand. Thanks for any help anyone can give.

- Daeng